World of the Maya

In “The World of the Maya” von Hagen presents a clear and informative account of the customs of the people of Yucatan and vicinity at the coming of the Spanish conquerors. He has produced a unified and well documented work from such diverse sources as Diego de Landa’s “Relation of the things of Yucatan,” the Maya books of Chilam Balam written hurriedly in Spanish characters before the old learning should be utterly lost, the magnificently colored murals of Bonampak, the mythologic “Popol Vuh,” the paintings illustrating the undeciphered hieroglyphic texts of the three extant Maya codices, the investigations of modern travelers and archaeologists, and finally the author’s own wide travels over the limestone peninsula and through the highlands of Yucatan. The value of the book is further enhanced by apt comparisons with analogous cultures: Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman in the Old World; Aztec and Inca in the New. The author describes the highly ornamented temples, pyramids, ball courts, altars, and stelae covered with hieroglyphs, which constituted the acropolis of a Maya city; but the question as to why this mysterious people abandoned their magnificent cities remains perforce unanswered.